


Don't Take Love for Granite

by AuntG



Series: The Seraphinite Series [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angels, Can't Go Home, Demons, Dogs, F/M, Gargoyle in my Pocket is not a Euphemism, Gargoyles, Hunters & Hunting, Jessica Moore Lives, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Nudges and kicks, On the Run, Pie, Season/Series 01, Stanford Student Sam Winchester, Supernatural Elements, Tags Contain Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:55:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 15,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25025029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuntG/pseuds/AuntG
Summary: This is the sequel to Seraphinite.Cas is a pocket sized gargoyle who has been traveling with Dean as he goes on hunts.John goes missing and Dean heads to Stanford to try to convince his brother to help him find their dad.What difference can a little gargoyle make?
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Jessica Moore/Sam Winchester
Series: The Seraphinite Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1750537
Comments: 35
Kudos: 43





	1. Reunion Jitters

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the Empty.
> 
> A/N: I have written the first four chapters, so I decided to go ahead and post the first one.  
> I'll probably post the next one tomorrow.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Cas talk at the doorstep of Sam's apartment.

**Chapter 1: Reunion Jitters**

_Sunday 30th of October 2005_

Dean drove Baby right up to the parking lot next to the quaint little white apartment and stopped to park. He turned to look at his little rock angel, Cas. Cas had his arms stretched out, trying to regain his balance as he wobbled precariously close to the edge of the dashboard. Dean thought it was adorably awkward, but knew better than to say so aloud... And besides, adorable was a Sammy word. Dean grinned. Soon he would see his baby brother for the first time in forever.

Dean put out his hand and Castiel stepped onto it. 

"Are you ready?" asked Dean, as he carefully lowered that hand into his pocket.

"I want to see Samuel too, Dean." was the muffled answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next much longer Chapter: Jealousy is Green, Smurfs are Blue
> 
> A/N: I'm moving Sam's law school interview to Wednesday, November 2nd to reflect the real world calendar of 2005.


	2. Jealousy is Green, Smurfs are Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean meets Jess. There are a lot of stairs. Sam meets someone too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi.  
> Here's the second chapter. Enjoy!

_Early Morning Monday October 31st, 2005_

After arguing with Cas for an hour, Dean stomped up to the building and rang the buzzer to Sam's apartment. It was quiet for a minute.

" _Whoever_ you are this is extremely late." Sam said in a bitchy tone as he opened the door.

"Would you rather I had climbed through the window, Sammy?" It had been what Dean had planned on, until Cas pointed out he would probably either get shot or, if he was lucky, only get the cops called on him. 

"Dean!" Sam said excitedly. Dean clasped Sam's shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sam said warily as he led Dean up the stairs and into the apartment's living room.

"Okay. Alright. We gotta talk."

"Uh… the phone?" Sam said.

"If I had called, would you have picked up?" Dean pointed out, trying to hide his bitterness. Despite helping Sam get to Stanford, Sammy had pretty much cut him out of his life out of fear that Dad would use Dean to find him.

Suddenly the lights came on. 

"Sam?" asked a female voice, husky from sleep.

Sam and Dean turned, and saw a sexy blonde in very short shorts and a cropped Smurfs top.

"Jess. Hey. Dean, this is my girlfriend, Jessica." Sam said with a smile.

Dean looked her up and down, appreciatively.

"Wait, your brother Dean?" Jess said, smiling and Sam nodded.

Dean grinned at the exchange and moved a bit closer.

"Oh, I love the Smurfs. You know, I gotta tell you. You are completely out of my brother's league." Dean commented, just as he felt himself get kicked in the kidney. He grunted. _Cas, really?_

_"_ Just let me put something on." Jess said as she turned to leave.

"Anyway, I gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business." Dean said, then felt a 'nudge' and added "But, uh, nice meeting you."

Sam got a cross look on his face, went over to where Jess was and put an arm around her.

"No, whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her." Sam said firmly.

"Okay…" Dean said, and turned to look at both of them. "Um. Dad hasn't been home in a few days."

If anything, Sam succeeded in looking more annoyed.

"So he's working overtime on a Miller Time shift. He'll stumble back in sooner or later." Sam said, stone faced.

Reflexively, Dean ducked his head and then looked back up.

"Dad's on a hunting trip. And he hasn't been home in a few days."

Jess glanced up at Sam, noting his expression with curiosity and a little concern.

"Jess, excuse us. We have to go outside."

As soon as Sam said that, Dean felt a series of pokes in his side. He didn't know what the hell Cas wanted, but it would have to wait.

*****

Sam put on a hoodie, and the brothers walked over to the stairwell outside of the apartment to continue their conversation.

"I mean, come on. You can't just come to my apartment in the middle of the night and expect me to hit the road with you."

Dean felt another poke.

"You're not hearing me, Sammy. Dad's missing. I need you to help me find him."

Dean said, feeling sore in more ways than one.

"You remember the poltergeist in Amherst? Or the Devil's Gates in Clifton? He was missing then, too. He's always missing, and he's always fine."

Dean came to a stop.

"Not for this long. Now are you gonna come with me or not?"

"I'm not." Sam said stubbornly.

"Why not?" Dean asked.

"I swore I was done hunting. For good."

"Come on. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't that bad." Dean said as they went down the stairs.

"Yeah? When I told Dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45." Sam said.

Dean stopped at the door to the outside.

"Well, what was he supposed to do?"

"I was nine years old! He was supposed to say, don't be afraid of the dark." Sam replied, getting annoyed again.

"Don't be afraid of the dark? Are you kidding me? Of course you should be afraid of the dark. You know what's out there." Dean said, feeling confused by Sam's new head in the sand mindset. Actually, now that he thought about it there had been no protective glyphs, or salt on the windows, or even the most basic of protections on the apartment. Oh, Sammy.

"...I know, but still." Sam was saying. "The way we grew up, after Mom was killed, and Dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her."

Dean glanced away.

"But we still haven't found the damn thing. So we kill everything we can find." Sam added.

"We save a lot of people doing it, too." Dean pointed out.

"You think mom would have wanted this for us?" Sam said, laying it on thick, trying to get through to his brother.

Dean just rolled his eyes and slammed the door open.

*****

As they went down a short flight of steps to the parking lot, Sam said "The weapon training, and melting the silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors."

"So what are you gonna do? You're just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?" Dean said as they walked over to the Impala. 

"No. Not normal. Safe." Sam insisted. 

_Safe_ , _yeah right._ Dean thought.

"And that's why--" Dean started to say before he felt another kick to the kidney, causing him to flinch.

"Dean!" Piped up a tiny gravelly voice from his pocket as Dean reached in and pulled out the wriggling statue by one of his wings. 

"What--" Dean snarled.

"What the hell?" Sam said as he looked warily at the creature.

"I just thought you should know... that, that the entire apartment is covered in Eau d'Demon!" Castiel said, crossing his arms.

"And that's why you made me a part of your kickboxing class?" Dean said as he set Cas on top of the Impala.

"Um, Dean…" Sam said, uncertainly.

"Is that Rock Angel?"

Dean sighed.

He turned to look at Sam sheepishly.

"You remember your lore on Gargoyles?"

"That they only come alive at night?"

"I also wake when demons are near." Rock Angel added grumpily.

"Castiel was cursed by a bartender into gargoyle form, and gargoyles can sense evil." Dean said, deciding to leave out the fact that Cas was an angel before the curse. 

"How did he end up as your toy, then?"

"Well, you know mom bought him at a flea market… and when the house burnt down he was about the only thing to survive the fire. That following night he spoke to me."

"Why didn't you warn us about that demon?"

"I tried, Samuel." The tiny gargoyle said solemnly. "I made enough noise to wake Dean, but it was all I could do as I was stuck on a shelf too high for Dean to reach and I can't move very fast on my own."

"Are we really in danger?"

Cas nodded sadly.

"Fuck. What do I tell Jess."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the kicking, but sometimes it is Cas's only means of communication. (They need to come up with a better one, no?)
> 
> In a week I'll post the Next Chapter: A Brady Brunch.
> 
> See you soon!


	3. A Brady Brunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Sam have brunch. Dean tells Sam about the Case that Dad had been working on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just finished chapter 5, so you guys get chapter 3. Enjoy!
> 
> A/N: It's a three hour drive on I-5 between Palo Alto and the center of California (a.k.a. Jericho, CA.)  
> Therefore, the pilot is one of the rare examples of the Impala driving waaay too slow to reach their destination. They had plenty of time to stop for brunch, so I'm having them do so.

Sam had convinced Jess that he wanted to spend a little more time catching up with Dean and was going to do an early brunch. Jess said that she was busy until ten, but she should be able to join them a little later, so they agreed to meet at a favorite café.

Dean talked Sam into being the one to carry Castiel in his pocket. Sam only agreed because he wanted to learn more about the living angel statuette that had apparently convinced his brother that not all supernatural creatures were evil and should be destroyed. This was certainly a departure from the mindset that John had tried to indoctrinate them with.

*****

_Monday, 31st of October 2005_

The waitress came up and they made their orders. Sam saw a slight wrinkling of Dean's nose. He probably had just realized that all the items on the menu contained vegetables.

"Figures you'd like such a foodie place." Dean grumbled after the waitress left to get their food.

"What was he hunting?" Sam said, deciding to get straight to the point.

Dean leaned over to open a bag.

"All right, let's see, where the hell did I put that thing?"

"So when Dad left, why didn't you go with him?" Sam asked.

"I was working my own gig. This, uh, voodoo thing, down in New Orleans."

"Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself?" Sam said, surprised.

Dean gave him a look.

"Dude, I'm 26."

"All right, here we go." Dean said as he pulled out some papers. 

"So Dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago, this guy--" Dean said, pointing at one sheet. "--they found his car, but he vanished, went completely MIA."

Sam saw that the article was from the Jericho Herald and talked about an 'Andrew Carey, MISSING'.

"So maybe he was kidnapped." Sam pointed out.

"Yeah. Well, here's another one in April." Dean said as he tossed onto the table another newspaper clipping.

Then he pulled out a stack showing it to Sam, before returning the two clippings to the pile and quickly putting them into his bag.

"All men, all the same five-mile stretch of road."

Dean grabbed a tape recorder from the bag.

"It started happening more and more, so Dad went to go dig around. That was about three weeks ago. I hadn't heard from him since, which is bad enough."

Then he pressed play:

_"Dean...something big is starting to happen...I need to try and figure out what's going on. It may... Be very careful, Dean. We're all in danger."_

"And now there's Demon stink _in my apartment!"_ Sam hissed.

"Dude, that's not my fault. You don't even put salt on your window sills." Dean muttered.

Sam had to tell him. He didn't want to, but…

"I've been having dreams."

"We all have dreams, Sammy." Dean said smirking.

"Not like these, Jerk. My dreams have Jess dying just like mom did."

"Sammy…"

"I know, okay? But what if my dreams were a warning? With what Castiel said?"

"Then we take her with us." Dean replied.

"How are we going to do that? If I tell her that the tiny gargoyle in my pocket said that she's in danger--"

"--she'll think that's a weird euphemism for your dick?" 

"--she'll think I'm insane!"

Dean gave him an apologetic look.

"Hey, Sammy…"

Sam sat, food untouched, staring off into the distance glumly in silence for a moment. Then, as he spotted Tyson Brady making his way over he felt a kick to his side...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Cackles evilly.**
> 
> A/N: I realized after posting this that the woman in white would have killed Troy that night, but newspapers are slow, so I'm going to say that his death will be in the evening edition.
> 
> Next chapter: Monte Cristo


	4. Monte Cristo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Islands and demons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long. I have no excuse as I'd already written the chapter last month... ERM, you can blame heat exhaustion?

"We should get going." Sam said abruptly.

"But I thought we were waiting for--"

"Y'know I have always wanted to visit  _ Monte Cristo _ ." Sam half-whispered.

"Right. I'll get the check."

"Hey, Sam." The blond man said as he finally reached their table. "Did I get you at a bad time?"

Sam opened his mouth to answer, and felt another kick. That was confirmation then. He felt sick. He stood up.

"Yeah. Gotta go. See you on Wednesday?"

"Yeah, man. You gotta tell me how the interview went." Brady said as he clasped a hand onto Sam's arm.

"And now I'm queasy, thanks."

As Brady laughed, Sam seethed internally, careful not to show anything as he left.

*****

"Who was that guy?" Dean asked on the drive back to the apartment. 

Sam paused to put away his phone, having just called to inform Jess of their change of venues.

"That was Tyson Brady. He used to be my roommate and was a good friend up until Thanksgiving. He introduced me to Jess… and now I think he's a demon."

"How do you… Cas, you awake buddy?" Dean asked, looking at Sam's pocket.

Sam rolled his eyes. 

"Dean, he went back to sleep."

"But he was awake?"

"And kicking like a mule when Brady was near."

Dean parked Baby in the lot near Sam's apartment and turned to look at Sam.

"Moment of truth. You ready Sammy?"

"No." Sam said as they got out of the car.

"Just rip it off like a bandaid, it'll be easier."

They went to the building, took the stairs, and then--far quicker than Sam was ready--Sam used his key to unlock the door.

The apartment smelled heavenly, like cookies.

"Is that you Sam?" Jess's voice called from the kitchen.

"Brady just called, he's on his way over…" Jess said as she entered the room.

"Oh, hi Dean."

"I need you to come." Sam blurted.

"Huh?"

"With me and Dean, right now, to find dad."

Dean facepalmed. 

"Sam, you're scaring me." Jess said as she set down the tray of cookies.

"Have you ever known Castiel to lie?" Sam asked Dean.

"No."

"Who's Castiel? What's going on?" Jess said, looking upset.

"Jess you're in danger, there's--"

"Demon!" A gravelly voice boomed from Sam's pocket, just as Brady kicked in the door.

"Cristo" Dean said.

Brady's eyes went black.

Jess screamed.

"Oh well, I guess the gig is up." Brady said maliciously and pulled out a knife...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next one will be up soon, but after that it may be a little while as I haven't written it yet?


	5. Tiny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's the fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm not good at writing fight scenes, but I tried.
> 
> Sorry for the wait.

" _Look_ Sam, she brought me _cookies_." Brady said as he lunged toward Jess and sidestepped a swipe from the long knife that Dean pulled out. Sam landed a punch but Brady barely seemed to notice the impact. Jess tried to run, but the demon got ahold of one of her long locks and yanked her back. Then the demon placed a knife at her throat.

"C'mon Sam, you don't really wanna kill me… the little junkie is still in here screaming like hell. Just let me finish my job and I'll spring for a nice tombstone."

"Fuck you!"

"No? It was going to say ' _Here lies the grave of Jessica Moore. No Jest, No More.'"_

The demon sing-songed as he tightened his hold and a trickle of blood came down her throat. Jess held very still. Suddenly, the tiny voice from Sam's pocket spoke up again.

_"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas…" He intoned._

"What is that!" screeched the distracted demon.

Several things happened at once:

Dean knocked the knife out of his hand. Jess saw her chance elbowing him, and then stomped his foot as she ducked under and away from his loosened hold.

Sam picked up the knife and the little voice kept chanting in Latin.

_"...omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica. Ergo, omnis legio diabolica, adiuramus te... cessa decipere humanas creaturas, eisque æternæ perditionìs venenum propinare…"_

Smoke came out of Brady's mouth. As the body fell to the floor, the head hit the corner of the table with the cookie tray.

_"...Vade, satana, inventor et magister omnis fallaciæ, hostis humanæ salutis…"_

The smoke tried to go into Dean, but last month Castiel had convinced him to get a warding tattoo and it seemed to stop the demon. It changed targets, heading for Jess. The chanting sped up.

_"...Humiliare sub potenti manu Dei; contremisce et effuge, invocato a nobis sancto et terribili nomine... quem inferi tremunt... Ab insidiis diaboli, libera nos, Domine. Ut Ecclesiam tuam secura tibi facias libertate servire, te rogamus, audi nos."_

And the smoke came to an abrupt halt, before violently being pulled up and away before dissipating.

Jess kneeled and checked Brady's pulse. "He's unconscious but his pulse is stable." She checked his head wound."The blow to his head was shallow. He will most likely have a concussion, but we should call paramedics to be sure."

"We can't Jess." Sam said. Jess stood up, hands in fists at her hips. Sam walked up until he was just in front of her.

"What do you mean that we can't, he's hurt!"* Jess said, fighting tears.

"And he was just possessed by demons. We can't explain that to the paramedics, and even if we could they would put Brady away for the crimes that the demon committed." Sam said and held her as her body sagged into him.

"Is Brady?..." Jess added after a moment, uncertain.

"Going to need a lot of therapy after housing a demon for a few months? Yeah, but don't worry. Got any paper?"

"Dean what are you doing?"Sam asked after Dean pulled out three pendants and a pen from his pocket.

"What's the boy scout motto Sammy?"

"Be prepared. Dean you were never a boy scout."

Dean ignored him, writing a note and slipping it into Brady's pocket. Then he slipped one of the pendants around Brady's neck.

"You and Jess each need to wear one of these--unless you decide to get it tattooed--they protect against demonic possession."

Jess stood back up, staring at Dean.

"Why didn't you give it to me earlier?!" Sam asked with confusion.

Jess turned to look at Sam's pocket.

She still looked freaked, so Sam put an arm around her to soothe her.

"I was distracted… and I didn't know for sure that it worked until just now." Dean admitted.

"Is anyone going to explain the tiny voice in Sam's pocket?" Jess finally said.

"We will, but we need to hurry… Brady will wake up soon and the demons are still coming, so go pack a bag and we'll leave for Jericho as soon as possible." Dean said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *In this story, Jess is in the RN program that Stanford began in 2002. Thus, her concern for Brady, even after 'he' attacked her.


	6. On The Road: a.k.a. Jessica Moore gets Semi-Kidnapped and Introduced to the Life of Hunters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jess gets the 411 on hunting and John.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the Tiny chapter was tiny, and I finished another. Therefore, you get a double post. ;-)

_ Still Monday, 31st of October 2005, on I-5 _

"...and there was EVP on that." Sam said as he hugged her. Jess knew he was willingly sitting in the backseat so he could be able to comfort her as he explained about his (not mobsters!) family and the supernatural. It was all very confusing, especially since he kept unconsciously slipping in what had to be hunter jargon into the conversation.

"What's EVP?"

"Oh." Sam said, blushing. "Easier to show you." He said and brought out a handheld tape recorder.

"First listen to this." Sam said excitedly and pressed play.

" _ Dean...something big is starting to happen...I need…"  _ Sam stopped the tape.

"Was that your dad?" Jess asked and Sam nodded. Sam switched tapes.

"Dean, he slowed down the tape, ran it through a gold wave, took out the hiss and this is what he got." Sam said as he pressed play again.

_ "I can never go home…"  _

_ " _ That sounds like a woman." Jess said, shaken and trying not to show it.

"A woman in white." Sam agreed. It's a type of ghost and she's in Jericho, killing lonely men at night on the highway. We need to stop her." Sam said.

"... and that will lead you to your dad."

"He's obviously moved on from there, but he might have left a clue.*" Sam said hopefully. That's her big, sweet man.

"Uh…" she said dubiously. "So you save people?"

"Saving people, killing things: the family business." Dean chimed in. Then he popped a cassette in and Ramblin' Man started to play.

What had she gotten herself into? Most of her worldly possessions were stuffed into two duffle bags, she was going to have to drop out of Nursing school via email, she was on the run with her amazing boyfriend who was also going to miss his law school interview on Wednesday (and who apparently was the male equivalent of Buffy) and they would be hunting things that go bump in the night.

And! And if that wasn't enough, the little statue in her boyfriend's pocket was apparently a gargoyle named Castiel who was currently asleep in his petrified state.

Jess found herself drifting off...

Two AC/DC cassette tapes later, she was woken by the ring of Sam's cell phone.

She looked out the window to the right and saw a sign that said Jericho 7. That probably meant that they were on Centennial Highway and we're almost there.

"All right." Jess heard Sam say, as he flipped his phone closed. "So, there's no one matching Dad at the hospital or morgue."

They slowed to a stop. Jess turned and saw that there was a bridge up ahead and there were two cop cars blocking entry and cops swarming all over it.

Dean got a box full of IDs-- why did that not surprise her--from the glove compartment, and searched until he found the one he wanted.

"Let's go." Dean said with a grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Marshall, Marshall, Marshall.
> 
> (Naming things is hard, lol.)


	7. Marshall, Marshall, Marshall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, now they're in Jericho. It's still Halloween.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zofo you made me laugh.  
> See below.

"You fellas had another one like this just last month, didn't you?" Dean said as he walked up to a slouching deputy at the crime scene.

"And who are you?" asked the deputy named Jaffe as he stood a little taller.

Dean just flashed him the badge and said "Federal Marshalls."

"You three are a little young for marshals, aren't you?"

"Thanks," Dean said with a laugh "that's awfully kind of you. She's a trainee, but me and my partner have been doin this for years."

Dean sauntered over to the car.

"You did have another one just like this, correct?" he said.

"Yeah, that's right. About a mile up the road. There've been others before that."

"So, this victim, you knew him?" Sam cut in.

Jaffe nodded. "Town like this, everybody knows everybody."

"Any connection between the victims, besides that they're all men?" Dean asked as he went around the car, inspecting it carefully.

"No." Jaffe said "Not so far as we can tell."

"So what's the theory?" Jess asked.

"Honestly, we don't know Miss." Jaffe said with a shrug. "Serial murder? Kidnapping ring?"

"Well, that is exactly the kind of crack police work I'd expect out of you guys." Dean remarked sarcastically. Sam stomped on his foot. Jess gave Sam a smile.

"Thank you for your time." Sam said as they left.

<https://docs.google.com/document/d/10pmhIgoFOWwSPrVbFa2nKAhr9KhdXswMBeZsipvlT0U/edit?usp=drivesdk>

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of Cas in this chapter.
> 
> How do you add a picture? Does anyone know because it isn't coming out. Ok I think the link works. My attempt at Funko Pop Cas


	8. Interviewing People, Proposing Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jess talks facts with the ladies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a happy accident, I swear.

Interviewing People, Proposing Things

They stopped the Impala and looked out to the street where there was a movie theater and a young woman putting up posters with a young man's face that read _'MISSING TROY SQUIRE'_.

"I'll bet you that's her." Dean said, unbuckling his seatbelt.

"Yeah." Sam replied, and started to open the door.

"Wait." Jess said, placing her hand over her boyfriend's hand on the handle.

"She's grieving. This needs a woman's touch."

"Jess, you're--"

"Let her try." Dean said. Sam gave him a surprised glance. "Sink or swim, Sammy."

Jess rolled her eyes, but was grateful that there would be no more argument. She got out of the car and approached the woman at an even pace.

"Hi, are you Amy?"

"Yeah. And you are?" 

"Yeah, Troy told me about you. I'm his cousin, Jess."

"He never mentioned _you_ to me." Amy said, as she looked her over. It was clear in her tone that Jess would have been mentioned. Great, a jealous one. Amy started to walk away, and Jess jogged a little bit to catch up.

"Well, that's Troy, I guess. I'm not around much, my family is up in Modesto. So…

I've been looking for him too, and asking around."

A young brunette walked up to Amy and hugged her.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Hi I'm Jess, Troy's cousin. May I ask you a couple of questions?"

"Rachel Hein." the woman said, as she turned to look at Jess. Then she shrugged.

*****

In a faded diner Jess, Amy and Rachel sat down at a table just as they heard the door jangle. Amy tensed up as two men walked over to their table.

"This is my fiance, Sam and his brother Dean." Jess said as an explanation of their presence. Amy relaxed her shoulders, as Sam's eyes flickered away from a surprised look and a dopey grin transformed his face. 

"They've been helping me look." Jess said as she clasped Sam's hand and smiled.

"Aww" Rachel murmured.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Dean asked, getting them back on topic.

"I was on the phone with Troy. He was driving home. He said he would call me right back, and...he never did." Amy said.

Sam turned to look at Amy.

"He didn't say anything strange, or out of the ordinary?" Sam asked.

"No," Amy shook her head "not that I can remember."

"That's a nice necklace." Jess said, as she looked at the Wiccan symbol of a pentagram in a circle.

"Troy gave it to me," Amy said with a small laugh "mostly to scare my parents."

"Actually, it means just the opposite." Sam said.

"He's right." Jess added "A pentagram is protection against evil. Really powerful. I mean, if you believe in that kind of thing."

"Okay. Thank you, Unsolved Mysteries." Dean said and leaned forward.

"Here's the deal, ladies. The way Troy disappeared, something's not right. So if you've heard anything…"

The ladies looked at each other.

"Well, it's just... I mean, with all these guys going missing, people talk…"

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys, I can't figure out how to add a picture. Sigh. It wants a url and I'm like 'but I emailed it to myself from my laptop, there is no URL'.


	9. Love, Suicide, and Libraries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're at the library doing research on Constance Welch. Jess has an overdue meltdown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys, I just finished writing 5 chapters (my muse wouldn't shut up, lol)

**Love, Suicides and Libraries**

"This is not how I thought I'd be spending Halloween." Jess said as she closed a book shut. It was six p.m. and they were still trying to find information on the woman in white, Constance Welch. Sam shifted and leaned over for a kiss. After a few minutes he pulled away, winching.

"Hello, Cas." Sam said as he unbuttoned his coat. Sam gave the near empty library a surreptitious glance. Seeing that the other three occupants were either asleep or absorbed into their studies, Sam elected to take Cas out of his pocket and place him in the table. Cas peered at Sam's laptop with a frown.

"You should look for suicides." Cas grumbled.

"I'm also grumpy when I first wake up." Jess said in a cheerfully commiserating tone.

"Sam doesn't get it, he's a morning person--goes jogging and everything." Jess added with a giggle while picking up another book.

Sam starts to type suicides in his search engine.

"Your pocket smells of dog treats." Cas grumbled at Sam lowly as he walked over to the tome Jess had in her lap.

"Is that latin? Can you read latin?"

Jess closed the book with a snap and turned to look at her fiance.

She sees on the screen that there is an article entitled "Suicide on Centennial". Dean walks over to take a look. 

Sam opens the article, dated April 25, 1981. They read the article.

"This was 1981. Constance Welch, twenty-four years old, jumps off Sylvania Bridge, drowns in the river."

"Does it say why she did it?" Jess asked, biting her lip. She leaned closer as she tried to catch Sam's attention.

"Yeah."

"Sam…" Jess said.

"What?" Dean asked, looking at Sam who was looking at the laptop.

"An hour before they found her, she calls 911. Apparently her two little kids are in the bathtub. She leaves them alone for a minute, and when she comes back, they aren't breathing. Both die."

Dean spotted something else in the picture of the article.

"The bridge look familiar to you?" he asked.

"Yeah" Sam said, standing up.

"Sam, earlier did you…" Jess started to say as she stood up as well.

"I want to marry you." Sam said as he pulled out something from his pocket and sank down on one knee.

A chorus of quiet awws could be heard from the three college students who apparently were woken from their sleep or distracted from their immersion into the books at their tables.

Jess bit her lip to stop it from trembling.

"I… I… Do we really need to run? What about your interview? I love you, but what will we do for money? I still need to do a couple of classes and some hours to graduate!" Jess said, nearly hysterical.

_"There's the delayed reaction."_ Dean whispered as he stood up.

"Sammy we need to go." Dean said quietly and picked up an immobile Cas and swept him into his pocket.

Sam stood back up, having put the ring back in his pocket, with tears in his eyes. Jess immediately fell into his waiting arms.

He enveloped her in his arms.

"We'll work this out somehow." Sam said as Jess cried into his shoulder.

"Promise?" Jess said, smiling through her tears, and then tucking her head under his chin.

Sam nodded.

"I hate to break this up, but we need to go guys." said Dean. Then, he ushered the lamenting lovers out of the library.

******

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'mma go return to the land of the living now that I'm no longer a writing zombie.
> 
> Next chapter is called Sylvania Bridge.


	10. Sylvania Bridge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter about the bridge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *shrugs*

**Sylvania Bridge**

Sam, Jess, and Dean walked along the bridge. Castiel walked along the railing.

Dean stopped and leaned against the railing to look at the dark swirling waters below.

"So this is where Constance took the swan dive." Dean said.

"I do not detect scuff marks that would indicate a struggle." Cas said.

"That poor woman." murmured Jess.

"So you think Dad would have been here?" Sam said, changing the subject.

Dean stood up and started walking along the bridge.

"Well, he's chasing the same story and we're chasing him." he said.

"Okay, so now what?" Sam said as he linked arms with Jess and they followed Dean.

"Hey!" Shouted a gravelly voice. Jess let go of Sam's arm.

Sam walked back to collect Cas with a quiet "Sorry, buddy." as he put him in his pocket. Sam power walked back to where he had been.

"You know, Jess is right. I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life." Sam said and Dean turned to stare at his brother.

"You have a responsibility to—" Dean said.

"To Dad? And his crusade? If it weren't for pictures I wouldn't even know what Mom looks like. And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, Mom's gone. And she isn't coming back." Sam said, getting angrier and angrier. Jess put a hand on his arm.

Dean looked at Sam as though the only thing that was stopping him from pushing Sam up at the railing was Jess's presence.

Jess realized then that Sam and Dean had both inherited some of their father's anger issues.

"Don't talk about her like that." Dean said angrily and turned back to the bridge. Then he saw the woman in white.

"Sam, Jess."

Sam took a step back and held onto Jess tightly.

Constance stared at them before jumping off the bridge.

"Did you see where she went?" Dean asked.

"She has probably dematerialized." answered a small rough voice like gargled stones.

Behind them, the engine of the Impala turned on…

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Jump in the Water


	11. Jump in the Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking impromptu swims through unknown waters is not my idea of fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a longer chapter this time. Also, we get the start of a new day. Yay!

**Jump in the Water**

Behind them, the engine of the Impala started and its headlights came on. 

All three turned to look.

"What the—" Dean started to say.

"Who's driving your car?" Sam asked.

"Oh my God. It's Constance!" Sam said as Dean pulled out his keys with a jiggle.

"Run!" Castiel shouted.

They turned and ran. The car jerked into motion and began to follow.

"Go, go!" Dean said as he started to run faster. It was definitely headed towards them and was gaining on them.

"Jump into the river!" Castiel shouted, his voice muffled by the fabric.

Sam looked at Jess, whose pale face gave him a determined nod.

Sam then caught his brothers' eye. Dean's face had the look of grim determination.

Hand in hand Sam and Jess dove over the railing. Dean quickly followed.

The car came to a halt.

*****

_Dawn, Tuesday November 1st, 2005_

They slogged their way out of the murky water and towards the nearest hotel.

Jess sighed and dripped 'water'.

"Nothing says love like dipping into a polluted river for a quick mud bath."

Dean started to laugh.

"I'll buy you all the bath salts you want." Sam said. 

Jess laughed and whispered "Where's the Bath and BodyWorks?"

Sam thought about it and added "I'll scrub your back." 

"And I'll get two rooms." Dean said, wrinkling his nose at the thought of Sammy getting laid.

*****

Dean goes to the front desk of the motel and sets down a VersaCard with the name Hector Aframian.

"Two rooms please." 

"You guys having a reunion or something?" the clerk asked.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"I had another guy, Burt Aframian. He came and bought out a room for the whole month."

"Well, I'm taking a shower before we meet your dad." Jess said. "A girl's gotta look her best before meeting her fiance's entire family." She added with a wink to the clerk.

*****

As Jess went to take her shower, Sam picked the lock to the room where their father had been staying.

Cas poked his head out of Sam's pocket and gazed around the room.

Cas looked around—every vertical surface had papers pinned to it: maps, newspaper clippings, pictures, notes. There were books on the desk and assorted junk on the floor and bed, including something with a hazardous-materials symbol.

Sam carefully stepped over the salt line on the floor.

"A salt barrier of such small quantity only works against ghosts and demons of the lowest hierarchy."

Sam set Cas down next to the salt. Castiel peered more closely.

"Ah, cats-eye shells. That would help." Castiel commented.

"So something had him worried, and he was trying to keep something from coming in." Sam said as he stood up.

Dean walked over to the bed and the nightstand and poked at a wrapper containing a half masticated burger.

He sniffed at the burger and then took a step back in utter disgust.

"I don't think he's been here for a couple days at least."

Dean looked at the papers on the wall.

"Centennial highway victims." Dean said out loud.

The victims that were seen on the wall included Mark?, William Durrell, Scott Nifong who disappeared in 1987 at age 25, and ?Parks. Mark, Durrell, and Nifong were all white males, judging by the photos.

Sam walked over to the wall.

"I don't get it. I mean, different men, different jobs, ages, ethnicities. There's always a connection, right? What do these guys have in common?" Dean said.

"Dad figured it out." Sam said, as he pointed at the man's notes on Constance as the woman in white.

Dean looked back at the wall.

"You sly dogs." he said.

Castiel knew that a woman in white meant that the men on the wall were unfaithful.

"We gotta find out where she was buried." Dean said.

Sam tapped on the picture of Joseph Welch.

"He's 64 if he's still alive." Sam said.

"All right. Why don't you, uh, see if you can find an address, I'm gonna get cleaned up." Dean said and started to leave. Sam stopped him.

"What I said earlier, about Mom and Dad, I'm sorry."

Dean shook his head and simply held up a hand.

"No chick flick moments."

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's going to be three or four more chapters before I wrap up the pilot episode. 
> 
> I have a question for you guys:   
> Should I continue on at that point or end it and start a new story in the series? 
> 
> I think I can promise that most other episodes will only get 1 or 2 chapters dedicated to them if I continue on as a single story. If I don't continue then John will not be present until the next story.


	12. Chasing People, Finding Things Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trouble with the five-0. Jess is stunning as usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to cut this chapter in half because it got kinda long.
> 
> I'll post the other half tomorrow.

**Chasing People, Finding Things Part 1**

Dean knocked on Sam and Jess's door.

"Hey, guys. I'm starving, I'm gonna grab a little something to eat in that diner down the street. You want anything?"

"No." Sam said through the door.

"Aframian's buying." Dean replied.

The door unlocked.

"He means yes." Jess said, looking much cleaner and stunning in a little black dress.*

*****

As Dean was exiting the parking lot, struggling with his jacket, he turned and saw a police cruiser, and inside the motel lobby the clerk is talking to the two deputies from earlier. The clerk then pointed at Dean, so Dean pulled out his cell phone.

*****

Sam and Jess are making out on the bed when the phone rings. Sam's left hand leaves Jess's thigh and reaches over to grab the phone off of the nightstand.

"What?"

"Dude, five-oh, take off." Dean replied breathless.

"Shit. What about you?"

"Uh, they kinda spotted me. Go find Dad."

Dean said as he hung up.

" _ Dammit _ ." Sam said, and then he got up to pack.

"What's wrong." Jess asked.

"You'll want to change out of those heels, the cops are coming. Dean is buying us time to get away."

"Why are the cops coming?"

"We kinda broke into the room next door and found it covered wall to wall with dad's hunting stuff. I'm guessing that the cops found out and are assuming it has to do with the deaths. Leaving all this behind was incredibly sloppy of dad and we're the ones paying for it."

*****

Dean was arrested and taken to the police station. There, amongst the chaos and the bustle Castiel managed to slip out of Dean's pocket and wandered stealthily until he spotted a phone.

Meanwhile, as Dean was being questioned the sprinklers went off.

One of the questions had to do with a piece of paper with the name Dean and a random series of numbers that Dean recognized as coordinates. (His dad has been a marine and he taught his boys well.)

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The dress Jess is wearing is from the episode "what is and should never be" from episode 2.20, you know, the one with the dreaming?


	13. Chasing People, Finding Things Part 2:  Welch House of Sour Grapes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sam talks to Joseph Welch and there is a jailbreak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. So I've decided to post all the remaining chapters of 'Book 1' before my birthday, October 15th.

** Chasing People, Finding Things Part 2: **

** Welch House of Sour Grapes **

Sam was seen through the chain-link covering a grimy glass window, so he knocked on the door the window was in. Joseph Welch opened it.

"Hi. Are you Joseph Welch?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." he replied.

*****

Sam got back to the car. 

Jess turned to him.

"So what did he say?"

"Dad was here posing as a reporter. Constance was buried in a lot behind their old home, and as mad as Mr. Welch got--he totally cheated on her."

*****

"We gonna do this all night long?" said sheriff surly, as he tried to get Dean to reveal what the code meant.

A deputy entered the room.

"We just got a 911, shots fired over at Whiteford Road." he said.

"You have to go to the bathroom?" asked sheriff cranky.

"No." said Dean.

"Good." the sheriff said tersely and he handcuffed Dean to the table before leaving the room.

Suddenly, Dean heard the window open and then a paperclip landed on the table.

"Hello, Dean." a gravelly voice greeted him.

Dean quickly got to work with the handcuffs.

*****

Sam was driving Baby when the phone rang.

"You'll never believe what rock angel did."

"You mean Castiel?" Sam asked humorously.

"That is correct." a gruff little voice replied.

"I'm assuming you got out, then."

"Let me tell it; So first, he somehow gets a lighter and sets off the sprinklers. Then he makes a 911 call while everyone is distracted and then climbs out of a window and walks along a ledge until he finds the room I was being interrogated in. He unlocks the window and throws down a paperclip. I pick the lock on the handcuffs and we go through the window onto the fire escape."

"Wow."

"Where are you calling from?" Jess asked.

"A payphone. The confiscated my phone." Dean said grumbling.

"All this, and I just can't figure out why Dad hasn't destroyed the corpse yet."

"That's what I wanted to tell you. Dad's not in Jericho."

"How do you know?"

"I have his journal."

"He doesn't go anywhere without that thing." Sam replied skeptically.

"Yeah, well, he did this time."

"What's it say?" Sam asked.

"Ah, the same old ex-Marine crap, when he wants to let us know where he's going."

"Coordinates." Sam explained to Jess. "Where to?"

"I'm not sure yet." Dean admitted.

"I don't understand. I mean, what could be so important that Dad would just skip out in the middle of a job? Dean, what the hell is going on?" Sam asked. 

Then he looked up and hit the breaks. Constance was in the backseat.

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After my birthday, I'll take a week long hiatus before posting chapter 17, which will be the first chapter of 'Book 2'. I have it all outlined now: Book 1 is 16 chapters, Book 2 will be 14 chapters, and Book 3 will be 12 chapters.


	14. Saving People, Killing Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Constance goes home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm late.

**Saving People, Killing Things**

"Take me home." Constance said.

Sam and Jess stared at her.

"Take me home!" Constance cried and suddenly the glass petal was pushed, the car accelerated, the doors locked, and the steering wheel was doing its own thing.

*****

The car pulled up to a house on BreckenRidge road and stopped and then all the lights turned off.

"Don't do this." Sam said, his voice quiet but stern. In the back seat, Constance flickered like an old movie, her face sad.

"I can never go home." she said mournfully.

"You're scared to go home." Sam replied.

Suddenly, Sam looked back and Constance wasn't there. Instead, she had taken up the shotgun seat, and from there began to climb his lap. 

"Hey!" Jess yelled as Constance shoved Sam backwards. 

"You can't kill me!" Sam said in a slightly panicked voice as he struggled to get her off of him.

"He's not unfaithful, you skanky bitch!" Jess added as she tried in vain to pull off the ghost now trying to kiss her Sam.

"I'm taking you home!" Sam gasped and started back the impala, driving Baby straight into the house.

Right then Dean arrived at the Welch's house and ran straight to the wreckage.

"Sam! Jess! are you okay?"

"I think…" Sam said as Jess groaned.

"Can you move?" Dean asked and waited until he received two yesses.

"Yeah. Help Jess?" Sam asked and Dean got between them, offering each a shoulder.

Meanwhile, Constance picked up a photograph of her and her two children.

Dean got them out and closed the car door. 

"There's others." Castiel whispered from inside Dean's pocket.

They looked up and saw that Constance was glaring at them. She threw the photograph down. Then, a large piece of furniture started to mover closer to them.

Suddenly, the lights flickered and Constance looked in fear towards the stairs where water began to trickle down.

"You've come home to us, Mommy." said the boy and girl that appeared at the stairs.

Constance looked at them, torn.

The boy and girl flickered and reappeared behind her in a hug. She screamed. A bright light engulfed the trio and they vanished.

"You found her weak spot. Nice work, Sammy." Dean said, then added "I'll tell you another thing. If you screwed up my car? I'll kill you."

Jess glared at Dean.

"He doesn't really mean that." Sam said quickly.

"It's just a few scratches." Sam whispered to Dean as Dean got into the front seat. Dean started to take Castiel out of his pocket.

"Wait." Cas said. "Take the journal first."

Dean did and then took out a grumpy looking Cas, placing him on the dashboard next to the journal.

"Let's go to Las Vegas and find somewhere to eat. My treat." Dean said as Sam and Jess settled into the back seat.

"Where are we going after that?" Jess asked.

"According to the coordinates in this journal; Blackwater Ridge in Colorado. It is about six hundred miles." Castiel replied.

Jess groaned.

"A nice restaurant, and no buffets."

*****

They stopped halfway through the two and a half hour drive to Las Vegas so that Jess could 'freshen up'. She put on a gorgeous clingy blue dress that Sam hadn't seen before.* Sam cleaned up too, putting on the suit that he had worn earlier to question the Sheriff in Jericho at the bridge. Jess quirked an eyebrow. He smiled.

When they arrived in Las Vegas, Dean drove them to the Venetian and spent $200 on a room. Then he took them to Noodle Asia.** Jess had the seafood congee. Dean 'the meat man' got something that had pork ribs and duck in it. Sam got noodles with chicken and mixed veggies.

Just before the waiter could come by and ask if they wanted the check, Sam got down on one knee and pulled out a ring box.

"Jessica Moore…"

"What, before dessert?" Jess said with a radiant smile, beaming at Sam.

"Will you marry this broke hunter…"

"Yes!" Jess said as she enthusiastically pulled Sam up to her and started kissing him.

Dean quietly went to pay the check. He returned to the table a minute later and found that Jess was now wearing the diamond ring and that they were still making out. He smiled.

"Congratulations. Uh… I'm going to find someplace to go play pool. Don't wait up for me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Hollywoodpicture.net (Adrianne Palicki)  
> **I've never been but I thought it looked pretty, it's listed as four stars, and the prices start at less than $10. When you're as broke as me and Dean…


	15. Azazel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel and Dean talk about demons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's short, and this chapter might seem oddly placed, but I think it was necessary to move along the plot. ;-)

**Azazel**

"Dean, there is something we need to discuss." Castiel said from his spot on the dashboard as they drove off to look for somewhere that had a bachelor party with a braggart or two that Dean could hustle without guilt.

"What's the matter, Rock Angel?" Dean said with amusement.

Castiel crossed his arms.

"I'm serious, Dean."

Dean glanced at Cas and sighed. 

"I didn't bring it up before because Sam and Jess have enough to worry about, but I believe that the demon that was inside Brady might have been working for the demon your father is chasing. If I'm right, then he's after an upper level demon."

"Wait, demons have a hierarchy?" Dean asked with surprise.

"Yes, Dean." Castiel said fondly. He didn't understand why John and some of the other hunters seemed to believe that Dean was stupid. 

"I believe he works for one of the yellow eyed demons, and of those only Azazel has been very active this past century." Castiel added.

"There's more, isn't there?" Dean asked.

"Though there are more powerful beings, I am aware of only one thing that can destroy an archdemon; an archangel blade." Castiel said. 

"What about…"

"I lost mine when I transformed, and unfortunately… it can only kill regular demons." Castiel added reluctantly. 

"A demon killer is better than we got right right now." Dean admitted.

"Perhaps we could go to Ohio after we find your father and I could try to sense it?"

"It's a da--uh," Dean said flustered "Yeah. Sure, we can do that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anybody know any good dating activities in Ohio?


	16. Highway to Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the morning, our quartet drives off to the tunes of AC/DC.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise, I forgot how tiny this chapter was. I should have updated it sooner.

**Highway to Hell**

_Dawn, Wednesday November 2nd, 2005_

At six a.m. Dean returned to the hotel room and roused the happy couple--scratch that--the surly couple.

Eventually they took off onto the road, peeling away from the hotel parking lot to the tune of AC/DC's Highway to Hell.

Unbeknownst to them, a short brunet man with a large presence and almond brown eyes watched as they drove off. He contemplated his next move as he popped a piece of candy into his mouth.

*****

The End of Book 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is Gabriel there? Will he play matchmaker? What happened to the redhead? What will John think about the new couple? Will John find out about Cas?
> 
> Find out in the next installation "The Rock Mixtape". 
> 
> Chapter 17 or Chapter 1 of Book 2 titled "No Quarter" will be up tomorrow.


	17. No Quarter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the way to Colorado, they stop at a gas station because Jess needs to pee. Sam enters the convenience store to use their WiFi and reads an email...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this is Chapter 1 of Book 2: The Rock Mixtape.  
> All chapter titles in Book 2 will be Led Zeppelin hits ;-)
> 
> To show no quarter is to show no mercy.
> 
> Warning: Sometimes Dean says cringe-worthy things while trying to be funny.

**Chapter 1: No Quarter**

_Wednesday, November 2nd 2005_

_10:30 a.m. in Arizona_

After leaving Las Vegas they spent the next four hours in the car going east. 

Suddenly, Jess started to complain about needing to pee after having impulsively bought a supersized travel mug at their last stop in Kanab, Utah and then filled it with coffee--just because it had the logo of a no-kill shelter that she recognized.

"Maybe we can stop in Page." Sam suggested. "It's not Tempe, but I bet it has Wi-Fi--all those tourists, you know?"

Dean opened his mouth to argue, then glanced at the back seat where Jess was hugging herself and moaning quietly.

"Yeah, okay. We can stop for snacks and get gas."

A few minutes later they arrived at their destination and Jess bolted out of the door, heading for the bathroom.

Sam grabbed his laptop and got out at a more leisurely pace. Maybe Dean was right and it was pointless, but he really wanted to check up on things in Stanford.

*****

**_"APARTMENT COMPLEX IN PALO ALTO BURNS TO THE GROUND, 3 STUDENTS INJURED."_ **

_This was bad_ Sam thought as he paled. Sam had gone to read his emails and one of them had a newspaper attachment. He quickly logged out and closed all his tabs, then powered down his laptop. He grabbed his laptop, the bags of snacks he had bought at the convenience store and stood up, glancing around until he spotted Dean at one of the pumps. He left the convenience store.

*****

Dean saw Sammy come toward the impala with a determined look on his face.

"Hiya Sammy, do we have a case, did dad end up in a hospital--did someone die?" Dean said with a wink.

Sam cringed. He opened the car door.

"Oh shit, I was joking." Dean said as he poured gas into the tank.

"It's ok they made it through with just injuries." Sam said sadly as bent to put his laptop and the snacks he had bought into the car.

"So, what happened?" Dean said as he finished up.

"After we left, someone set fire to my apartment. I guess getting rid of Brady's demon wasn't enough." Sam replied.

"He must have a boss. Probably Azazel like Cas said." Dean said as he went to put away the nozzle.

"Dean, there's more." Sam said as he stood back up and closed the door.

"This is the anniversary of mom's death, and there was a fire that night too, wasn't there?"

"Yeah, so? Sammy…" Dean said with a hint of worry, not liking where the conversation was headed. 

"This is going to sound crazy, but I think the apartment fire is connected.*" Sam said, 

"Sam." Dean said, rubbing his face as he returned to the car "There weren't kids or babies in that apartment… so why would you think that?"

"I can't really explain it…"

"We'll, tough." Dean said, getting annoyed. "I'm not going anywhere until you do." Dean said as he stared at his brother.

"I've been having these nightmares." Sam admitted uncomfortably.

"Yeah?"

"And sometimes… they come true."

"Come again?" Dean said, startled.

"Even before Brady showed up at the apartment, I knew something bad was going to happen there… and now the fire? Dean--I dreamt, for weeks, about Jessica dying like mom did."

"That didn't happen, though."

"But it could have!" Sam shouted.

"If we hadn't…" Sam said in a small broken voice "If we hadn't known about Brady--"

"Sam, she's alive." Dean said as he reached over to hug his brother. "Don't do this to yourself."

After a minute, Dean let go and gave Sammy a manly slap on the back.

"Aww, did I interrupt a family moment?" a familiar female voice said.

They turned to look at Jess with several shopping bags in her hands. Sam smiled.

"Are we ready to go?" Jess asked, and they all piled into the impala.

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My title is based on the fact that even though the demons had failed and Jess was still alive they still went ahead and burnt the apartment, showing them 'No Quarter', and destroying their livelihoods and a source of potential allies.
> 
> *Yup, I borrowed part of a conversation from episode 1x09 because I thought it took place in episode 1x02. Memory is a funny thing. I feel that it works well with where Sammy is at mentally because Jess's brush with death and the fact that he ignored the warnings of his dreams would have him feeling guilty sooner than in canon (where he had to grieve first).
> 
> Next Chapter: we have a "Communication Breakdown" in Colorado.
> 
> I have a question for the readers; would you like Brad or Gary to be trapped?


	18. Chapter 2: Communication Breakdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam, Jess, Dean, and a sleeping Cas travel to Blackwater Ridge, Colorado to look for John.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The co-ordinates given on the show are somewhere south of Page Arizona, and not in Colorado at all. For my sanity, the spot I chose is between the Four Corners and Grand Junction, which is further to the north and east. We good? 
> 
> Sorry it was late; I have an extra long chapter to make up for it?
> 
> A/N: I needed something happy after that finale. I made myself laugh when I wrote this, so I hope I succeeded.

**Chapter 2: Communication Breakdown**

_November 2, 2005_

_3:23 p.m._

_Blackwater Ridge, Lost Creek, Colorado_

As they drove up the last stretch of road to Lost Creek, a town in Colorado, Jess revealed an interesting detail.

"...well I wanna know his zodiac."

"Zodiacs are stupid, Jess." Sam replied.

"You live with the supernatural every day, how do you know that they aren't true?"

"Because they're not."

"Yeah, well, you're just as bullheaded as your zodiac symbol." Jess answered, crossing her arms.

"Dean. Deeeen… be an awesome brother-in-law and help me out, what's your zodiac symbol?"

"Aquarius. Born January 24th, Ba-" 

Jess squealed.

"Erm, Jess."

" _Ohmygodohmygod_! We're the same! We have the same birthday! Oooh, we've gotta throw a BIG party and invite everyone…"

"Jess we can't" Sam said, reluctant to burst her bubble.

 _Hot Blooded_ began to play quietly on the radio.

"But--"

"There's only ashes in Palo Alto, Brady's gone but other demons are probably watching the place."

"That's some defeatist attitude. Look how about a small party, you me and Dean could head over to visit my aunt Alice in Wisconsin…" 

"Maybe later", Sam conceded.

"How do you know that she's interested in hosting us?" Sam asked.

"I might have mentioned that I got engaged and that we're on a road trip. I didn't mention Dean though, I hope she's ok with a plus one."

"Jess, this is a bad idea, the demons that were watching us in Palo Alto probably have other demons watching your families. If you go visit they may come after you."

"But it's _my family_ , Sam…" 

Sam sighed, because he knew when he was beaten.

"After this hunt and a few precautions, I'll think about it."

Jess squealed.

Jess hugged Sam and said. "I knew you'd do it!"

*****

"All right, where are we?" Sam asked.

"We're south of Grand Junction."

Sam nodded, folding down a map of Colorado that has a large red X labeled 38-109.

"Dad disappearing and Azazel showing up again after twenty years, it's no coincidence. Dad will have answers. He'll know what to do."

"You put a lot of faith in your father." muttered Jess.

"It's weird, man." Sam said.

"Why's that?" Jess asked, her curiosity peaked as she sleepily leaned against her fiance in the back seat and peered over at the map.

"It's Blackwater Ridge."

"Does that mean something to you?" Jess asked.

Sam shook his floppy mane.

"There's nothing there. It's just woods. Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?"

Jess looked up and pointed at a sign. It read "Welcome to Lost Creek Colorado National Forest".

"Maybe we could just ask a park ranger what they do for fun around here?" Jess said.

"What do you think, Dean. CBI, CIA, or Department of Parks and Forestry?"

"What about clueless tourists?" Jess asked before Dean could answer. She could smell a blatant excuse to dress up a mile away, and she was too tired to play pretend.

 _Some asshole woke us at dawn the day after our engagement_ she thought darkly, glaring at Dean's back.

They got out of the Impala, and headed towards the building near the sign.

****

"Did you know that people go missing here, every 23 years?" Jess asked innocently as they checked into their motel room for the day.

"How did--" Sam began.

"While you were questioning Ranger Wilkinson, one of the female part rangers pulled me aside. Someone named Brad has already gone missing this year."

"You think Dad was looking for the creature that nabbed him?"

"I'll ask at the front desk to see if anyone was here fitting dad's description." Dean said. "I'll check the bar too, you never know what you are going to find among the gossip of a small town."

"And I'll check the lore to see if anything remotely fits the description. 23 years is an odd number." Sam added.

"And after a shower, I'll go visit Shaw, the guy who was attacked 23 years ago." Jess said as she grabbed her towel.

*****

Just as Jess stepped out of her long long shower in the bathroom, in which she was washing off all of the road off her, then when she finally towelled her hair, Dean returned with a defeated look on his face.

"He checked out yesterday night." Dean said somberly.

No need to guess who _he_ was. Jess was beginning to dislike John Winchester.

"Well I think we might be looking at a skin walker, or maybe..." Sam said as he closed the journal. "We'll know for sure once you talk to Shaw. Are you sure you don't want me to come over with you?" Sam asked Jess.

"Sammy you should look at this." Dean said, trying to distract them.

"That's…" 

"An article of when Brad was taken. It claims it was a grizzly attack."

Sam snorted derisively.

"This matches my theory. Plus I found some video footage online and it moves really fast."

Undeterred, Jess continued.

"And have you looming protectively over me? Men don't have their guard up around young pretty women, you know that… but you can stay nearby in the car in case things go south."

"You're still _in training_ Jess, if I can't be in the same room I want to be in the same house. Dean can be our getaway driver."

Dean shrugged.

"Fine." Jess said and reached over for a kiss to her grumpy protective fiance.

*****

Jess insisted that on the way over they stop at a store titled Goods for the Woods, where she bought camping gear with some of the last cash she had.

*****

Night had fallen, as Jess entered Mr. Shaw's house, and talked to the old man.

Nobody attacked her and their stakeout was boring. Eventually Jess pretended to call a ride, and a half hour later Jess got into the impala.

"Is it our monster?" asked Sam.

"Sounds like the same one." confirmed Jess.

"What are we waiting for? Let's pretend to be going camping and go nab that asshole!" Dean said as he started Baby's engine.

"Dean" Said the gruff little voice in his pocket.

Dean picked him up and set tiny Castiel on the table.

He looked a bit grumpy, rumpled, and had sex hair.

"Dean, you need a lot more flare guns if you are going to go against him. Maybe set a few traps of our own."

"How do you know so much about traps."

"The dean of the school whose desk I sat on, liked to watch shows about surviving".

*****

They got the flares, and then drove Baby to the place where the guy went missing to set camp there.

*****

 _Daylight_ . Thursday _, November 3rd, 2005._

In a mine shaft where the entrance let in the only source of light, Brad was hanging by his wrists from the ceiling. 

Suddenly, he heard growling. Brad spotted a tall, unnaturally skinny shape swiftly moving towards him and started to yell. An unknown corpse hung nearby, so Brad did his best to turn away and to close his eyes tightly as he yelled.

*****

That morning Jess was busy cleaning up after herself and Sam. She asked Dean but he seemed offended that she would even have to ask, since he was Mr. hospital corners when it came to his stuff.

They ate breakfast and started up the trail.

"This is it." Dean said after a half hour.

"What coordinates are we at?" Sam asked

Dean pulled out a GPS, which he read.

"Thirty-eight and minus one-oh-nine."

Jess came up to Sam.

"Did you hear that?" she whispered into his ear. "not even crickets." 

"I'm gonna take a look around." Dean said.

"Not by yourself." Sam said as he passed Dean and Jess each a flare gun.

Dean smirked and muttered "Okay, Samantha." 

"Jerk"

"Guys." Jess said exasperated, looking nervously into the woods.

Dean turned towards Jess.

"All right, everybody stays together. Let's go."

*****

When they arrived at Brad's campsite, they found the tents torn open and bloody. 

"Yuck." Jess said, wrinkling her nose, looking at the blood and the supplies that were scattered everywhere.

"Shh." said Sam. "It might still be out there."

Sam broke a stick in half then crouched down to where Dean was examining the debris.

"The body was dragged from the campsite. But here, the tracks just vanish. That's weird."

Jess gave Dean a sad look.

Sam walked over and patted her arm.

"Hey, he could still be alive." Dean said.

"Help! Help!" A voice said, and Jess startled.

"Somebody! Help!"

Jess frowned.

"Did it come from over there?" She said and pointed, as she took a few steps forward.

Sam gently grabbed her hand.

"Back to camp." he said tensely.

They walked back to their camp, and arrived to find that all their supplies were missing.

"That was money well spent." muttered Jess. She turned towards Sam.

"What the hell is going on?" Jess said, looking at Sam expectantly.

"It's smart. It wants to cut us off so we can't call for help." he replied.

"Dean, I need to look at dad's journal." Sam said as he walked over to his brother.

Dean handed it over and Sam started flipping through the pages until he stopped at an Algonquin style tribal drawing.

"Oh _come on_ , wendigos are in the Minnesota woods or, or northern Michigan. I've never even heard of one this far west." Dean pointed out.

"Think about it, Dean, the claws, the way it can mimic a human voice." Sam replied.

"Great" Dean muttered as he pulled out his pistol. "This is useless."

"Do you think Castiel, you know?" Jess said.

"We didn't think to ask him. We can ask him later. Speaking of which, we'd better go before it gets dark…"

Dean shook his head.

"It's too late. This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We'll never beat it, not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves."

*****

They started a campfire and Dean used a stick to draw symbols around it. Curious, Jess leaned over to get a better look.

"Okay, hunter training moment." Dean said. "It's not always shooting things or pouring salt on window sills." 

"Sometimes you can use magic." Sam interjected.

"We're not _witches_ Sammy." Dean said.

"Sometimes you can use drawings like these Anasazi symbols for protection. The wendigo can't cross over them."

"Cool." Jess said, then stood up to mock whisper into her fiance's ear.

" _Totally magic_." she added with a giggle, then she walked over to the tent.

"I'm going to check to see if there's anything we can make a meal out of that isn't granola bars."

After a minute passed Dean looked over at Sam, who had gone quiet.

"You wanna tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours?" Dean asked

"Dean—" Sam said, annoyed.

"No, you're not fine. When Jess isn't around you're like a powder keg, man, it's not like you. I'm supposed to be the belligerent one, remember?"

Sam pinched the brow of his forehead.

"Dad's not here. I mean, that much we know for sure, right? He would have left us a message, a sign, right?"

"Yeah, you're probably right. Tell you the truth, I don't think Dad's ever been outside of the motel in Lost Creek."

"Then let's go find Dad. I mean, why are we still even here?"

"Jess needs the training, and--"

Sam gave him bitchface #22.

"This book. This is Dad's single most valuable possession—everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to us. I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things. The family business."

"That makes no sense." Sam said as he shook his head. "Why doesn't he just—call us? Why doesn't he—tell us what he wants, tell us where he is?"

"I dunno. But the way I see it, Dad's giving us a job to do, and I intend to do it." Dean replied.

"Dean...no. I gotta find Dad. I gotta find the demon that's trying to kill her."

"What about what Jess wants?" Dean said.

"Jess doesn't want--" Sam said, getting huffy.

"Wisconsin sounds like fun." Dean said with an impish grin.

Eventually Sam smiled also.

Dean sighed.

"Okay, all right, Sam, we'll find them, I promise. Listen to me. You've gotta prepare yourself. I mean, this search could take a while, and all that anger, you can't keep it burning over the long haul. It's gonna kill you. You gotta have patience, man."

Sam looked up to the stars.

"How do you do it? How does Dad do it?"

Jess unzipped the tent.

"Well for one, Jess."

"Jess?"

"You got her to think about and...even if we don't save this Brad guy, maybe we can help some others. Makes things a little bit more bearable."

Jess pulled out a long jerky stick and carefully peeled off the plastic, then put one end over the fire.

"That's only going to be half-cooked." Dean said mockingly.

Jess stuck out her tongue at him.

"You know those things are pre-cooked." Sam commented.

A twig snapped.

"Help me! Please!" someone called out.

Startled, Jess swung her meat stick around, the end of it having caught on fire.

Dean stood, gun at the ready.

"Help!"

Sam shone a flashlight around, in the hopes of spotting the wendigo.

"He's trying to draw us out. Just stay cool, stay put." Dean said sternly.

"Right." Jess said, then added quietly "Inside the magic circle."

"Help! Help me!" a voice shouted, followed by growls. A blur rushed past.

"That's no grisly." Jess said, her eyes going wide as she realized all but the charred end of her meatstick was gone. 

"It's over there, in the tree!" Sam said, pointing his flashlight just as it disappeared again.

*****

_Friday, November 4th 2005_

"So we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I for one want to kill this evil son of a bitch." Sam said, while toying with a lanyard.

"Well, hell, you know I'm in." Dean said as he helped Jess finish packing up their stuff.

Sam went over to Jess and showed her the wendigo page of John's journal.

"'Wendigo' is a Cree Indian word. It means 'evil that devours'." Sam told her.

"They're hundreds of years old. Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or hunter."

"How's a man turn into one of those things?" Jess asked.

"Well, it's always the same." Dean said as he lifted a cooler off the ground. "During some harsh winter a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help. Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or camp."

"Ewww. Like the Donner Party." Jess said.

"Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality." Sam added.

"If you eat enough of it, over years, you become this less than human thing. You're always hungry."

"So if that's true, how can Brad still be alive?"

"You're not gonna like it." Dean replied, momentarily unable to look her in the eyes.

"How am I supposed to learn unless you tell me." Jess asked.

"More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it's awake it keeps its victims alive. It, uh, it stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. If Brad's alive, it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden, and safe. We gotta track it back there."

"How do we stop it?" Jess asked.

"We gotta torch the sucker." Dean replied.

*****

They walked through the forest, Sam and Dean taking turns with being at the front, tracking. Occasional bloody claw marks graced the trunks of nearby trees and broken branches were everywhere.

As they walked, they each carried a flare, and Dean carried a molotov cocktail in his other hand.

"You know, I was thinking, those claw prints, so clear and distinct. They were almost too easy to follow." Sam mused.

Suddenly, they heard a growl.

"You had to jinx it." Jess whispered as the three turned around.

They couldn't see the monster, but the trees were shaking.

A piece of decaying skin fell onto Jess's shoulder. She screamed and jumped back just as an unknown corpse crashed down to the spot where she had been standing.

Dean walked over to the body.

Then they heard more growling.

"Okay, run, run, run, run, go, go, go!" Dean shouted.

Jess started to run but tripped over a root. Sam picked her back up.

"Come on, I gotcha, I gotcha sweetheart."

Sam turned around and Dean was gone, and the bottle of the molotov cocktail lay on the ground, broken.

*****

After a while, Jess found a trail of peanut M&M's. 

Sam smiled.

"It's better than breadcrumbs."

They proceeded to follow the trail that Dean left them.

They followed it over to a mine shaft with signs that said WARNING, DANGER, and DO NOT ENTER EXTREMELY TOXIC MATERIALS AHEAD.

*****

Inside, Sam flashed his light around, but not before his foot crunched down on a pile of bones.

when the path opened up to a T- junction, they heard growling from the left side. They went right.

Jess looked up. 

"Dean!"

They found Dean unconscious and hanging from a hook, as well as another man. 

Sam shook Dean frantically.

"Dean!"

Dean groggily opened his eyes.

"Hey, you okay?" Sam asked.

Dean winced.

"Yeah." Dean said, looking more alert.

Jess shook the other man.

"Wake up. You're Brad, right? We're here to help, but we've got to get going quick."

Sam cut Dean down.

"You sure you're alright?" Sam asked.

Dean nodded and grimaced. Not a good time to go nonverbal.

"Yeah. Yep. Where is he?"

"He's gone for now." Sam said.

Jess slapped the other man. He woke with a shriek.

"Sorry!" she said to him, and turned to Sam. "I couldn't get him to wake up. Let's cut him down."

The man glared at her.

"We're here to help, Brad. I swear."

Dean picked up his flare gun from the pile of supplies that the wendigo had conveniently stashed in the same room as his wriggly food.

Together, they headed down the tunnel. Jess did her best to support a limping Brad, despite being no more than 110 pounds soaking wet. They heard growling.

"Looks like someone's home for supper." Dean commented.

"Can we outrun it?" Jess asked.

Sam shook his head.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Dean asked Sam.

"Yeah, I think so."

"All right, listen to me. Stay with Sam. He's gonna get you out of here."

"What are you gonna do?" Jess asked.

Dean left with a wink, then turned the corner.

"Chow time, you freaky bastard! Yeah, that's right, bring it on, baby, I taste good." Dean shouted as he ran away from the rest of the group.

"All right, come on! Hurry!" Sam said.

*****

They used the diversionary tactic to get out, but halfway through, the wendigo spotted Sam. Sam shot at it, missing, and they started to run. Fortunately, Dean was able to sneak up behind the distracted wendigo.

"Hey!" Dean shouted.

The wendigo turned.

Dean shot it in the face.

"Not Bad, huh?" Dean said to Sam's grinning face.

*****

They brought Brad to the Ranger station, where he told them all about the huge grizzly that attacked his campsite.

They checked out of the motel room, and got into the impala.

Dean tossed Sam the keys with a tired smile.

Sam got into the front seat, turned on the car, and immediately Rush's song "Fly by Night" began to play.

Dean's pocket began to wiggle.

"Did I miss anything?" Asked a gravelly voice.

"Well, there was this wendigo…"

*****

"...and that's what happened." Dean said to his rock angel, who was now sitting comfortably on the dashboard.

Dean stared at him for several minutes, getting stared at in return. His eyes started to close.

"Yeah... it was a long day." Jess said quietly. "I can't wait to hit the sheets. Where are we going, anyway?" she asked Sam.

"Dean thinks we should look around for other cases until we either find a clue about where dad is or he finds us."

"Does it matter what state you're in?" Jess asked. "We could visit my aunt."

"No, but--"

"Okay." Dean said with his eyes closed.

"Are you sure?" Sam asked.

Dean answered him with a snore.

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So on the show, John was there a week earlier than the brothers. This is weird, because that means that he randomly decided to go to the site of a 23 year old cold case. The case that the brothers go to see, on the other hand, happened like the day before they arrived. For this to make more sense, I decided to have one of the campers go camping a week early.
> 
> Roy was replaced with a meatstick. The monster didn't care. My subconscious is weird. 
> 
> Next chapter we will finally see something interesting happen to Cas and, er, Dean.


	19. Whole Lotta Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Cas travel to Ohio.  
> Sam and Jess deal with insurance.  
> I'm terrible at summaries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So this thing wasn't supposed to be so long? Oops.  
> This could have easily been, like, three chapters but then I'd have to find titles and I'm too lazy for that.  
> Hopefully nobody is too OOC.

_Early Saturday, November 6th, 2005_

Castiel smiled as he stared at Dean, softly snoring away. Castiel could tell that Dean had had a tiring day, as normally the first bump or pothole would have woken him. Castiel turned to Sam.

"Sam"

"Yeah?"

"You are hunting demons now." Castiel whispered.

"Yeah, we're going to hunt yellow eyes." Sam murmured, glancing at Jess in the back seat.

"You should protect yourselves." Castiel stated, uneasy and unclear as to why they had not taken the necessary precautions already.

"We're tryin' man. Holy water, exorcisms, salt…"

"Do you have anti-possession tattoos?"

Sam stared at the little gargoyle.

"That's a thing?!" Sam blurted, and Dean stirred.

"What's going on?" asked Jess in the back seat.

"Where's the nearest tattoo parlor?" Sam asked her.

*****

"That looks like a tramp stamp." Jess said with a groan, when Sam showed her the symbol Cas had shakily drawn out with a pencil stub on a napkin.

"Well we need it to hunt demons."

"Yeah…" Jess stared at the sketch "but you said it was just one demon."

"Others might try to find us--"

"Okay, Okay, Fine!"

"Wha?" said a sleepy Dean with a snort.

"Turn left at the next light."

"Huuuuuh?" Dean added.

"There's a tattoo place nearby with a picture of a dagger."

"Okay" Dean said, closing his eyes and within moments snoring like a Mack Truck.

*****

In the morning, in Manitowoc, the three desperados quickly entered a light dusty brown building with a green and black sign informing them that they were at a tattoo parlor. They entered it because it had cool stylized pictures of daggers and hot rods with busty women.

"Can I help you?" asked the proprietor. Sam answered.

Dean looked around. One artist had a jeans cutoff vest that nicely showed off their arms.

Just as Sam concluded negotiations, Dean made a joke about 'the gun show' and got to be first to get jabbed with hot needles.

They all got their anti-possession tattoos: The brothers got theirs on the chest, and Jess decided to cave in and get herself a 'tramp stamp' with little white angel wings added to the sides.

When Dean saw what she had planned, he opened his mouth to admit surprise that she didn't already have one. Sam elbowed him. Dean shut his mouth.

*****

They were about to leave when Sam got a call on his cell, not his burner.

"Hello?" Sam said, and then he listened to the other side for over a minute.

"Dean, I have to take this."

Dean stared out of the window into the cold fog.

"Is it the apartment insurance?" Jess asked.

Sam nodded and mouthed _'clever girl'._

Jess blushed.

"My friend Rachel could take pictures if you want."

Sam nodded, to show that he'd heard her.

"Yeah, I have someone in mind. I'll call you back. Bye" Sam said as he hung up.

"Okay, change of plans..."

*****

They pulled into the cheerful looking red, maroon, and white Lynnwood Inn with its fancy marquee. They checked in. They went back to the Impala to get their stuff, just as lightning cracked and a downpour began.

Cold rain pelted down onto Dean's dark brown leather jacket and he stomped his boots trying to shake out the cold as the key slid into the lock of the room.

It was wonderfully cozy inside.

Jessica called her friend.

*****

_Monday, November 8th, 2005_

Sleet had turned to snow and back to sleet again. Dean had visited the diner and gotten the pretty blonde waitress's number. They had messed around a couple of times. Dean was on his fifth Vonnegut novel. Dean went for an aimless drive in Baby and listened to Led Zeppelin II. After a few songs, he pulled over to the side of the road and called Bobby.

"Dean"

"Hi Bobby… uh. Have you checked the Campbell box lately?"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking." Bobby said sarcastically, then he paused before adding "I did. Not that there's any point, since there's only junk mail. You never give anyone the address, ya idjit."

"Thanks Bobby. Have you seen dad?"

"Not since I threatened to fill his ass full of buckshot, why?"

"No reason… he hasn't been in touch, and… what do you know about a demon named Azazel?"

"Boy, what have you gotten caught up in?!?"

"It's dad, okay? We think he's going after yellow eyes."

Dean heard a thump, followed by loud cursing. He heard Bobby grumble something followed by loud breathing.

"Now where's the… here. Says that though he was once thought to be a djinn in Israel, the archdemon Azazel could be summoned with a ritual involving candles, the blood of a goat… boy, this is way above your level. Even _John_ can't take this much heat. It says that he was the most loyal of Lucifer's followers and was rewarded for it with territory in hell. Only the top demons get that, Dean." Bobby ranted.

After a moment Bobby sighed and continued. 

"Boy... get out of the hunting life before it sees you dead."

_Dean had his reasons, ok? Dad was a son of a bitch sometimes* but he still needed saving… and, sure, Dean had a post box now but the address wasn't attached to some house with the apple pie life he used to dream about… no one was waiting for him._

"Bobby… I gotta go."

Dean ended the call and drove around a bit more, before returning back to the Lynnwood Inn.

When Dean got back he overheard Jess arguing on the phone. Fed up, Dean turned around and got back into Baby to look for a burger joint.

_Tuesday, November 9th, 2005_

Dean woke up to the sounds of Sam arguing with his former landlord. Dean scratched his ass and wandered over to the shower. He groaned at the amazing water pressure. He shampooed. He day dreamed about an imaginary brunette waitress with blue eyes. He took care of himself. He came back out in a towel and turned on the TV. Dean changed into a robe. It showed wiley coyote and the road runner. Dean shrugged and settled in on the bed. At the end of the episode, Dean got some cereal and nestled tight back in.

Sam gave him a prissy glare. Dean ignored him and Sam returned to his phone call.

Maybe they'd be showing Scooby Doo soon. Daphne was _hot_ , after all.

_Wednesday, November 10th, 2005_

As Sam went into the bathroom to take a shower, Dean stole his laptop.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon…"

The door unlocked.

"You'd better not be looking at porn." Jess said as she came inside the room and set down her bags.

"I got waffle fries, cheese curds, beers and burgers." Jess said, as she took out all the objects and set them down on the table.

Dean took a bite of his burger and moaned.

"Marry me."

"Too late." Jess said cheekily.

As he ate his burger, Dean continued to type away on the computer.

"Dammit" Dean muttered.

"What are you doing?" Jess asked.

"Porn" Dean replied, his face fixated on the screen.

"Try again, Winchester. And this time don't lie to me." Jess replied.

Dean grunted. Looked away.

Jess gave him a look.

"Did Sammy teach you those Bambi eyes? You know, once you start acting like each other, the honeymoon is over."

Jess rolled her eyes.

"Fine! I was looking for hunts because we've been cooped up in this place for _three_ days..."

"In Wisconsin?"

Dean nodded.

"This time of year? Good luck."

Dean sighed.

"So I expanded my search…"

"And you didn't find anything." Jess concluded.

"We'll… there's this weird thing in Ohio…"

"Really? A weird thing?" Jess said sceptically.

"I'll get you a really nice wedding present if you help me out here." Dean said, like he wasn't already planning on hustling a little pool to get them something expensive. Nothing but the best for Sam (and now Jess).

"Fine, whatever. I don't need you to bribe me though, I'll do it for a hug."

*****

Jess was the best. 

As soon as Samantha finally ended his beauty care regimen and stepped out of the shower, she started to complain that Dean's ADHD was driving her crazy. Sam pointed out that it was probably just cabin fever, and Jess suggested that he go out for a long drive. That led to Dean mentioning a possible hunt in Ohio, at which point the phone rang again and Sam was back to dealing with insurance.

Dean was glad that no one knew _his_ forwarding address.

*****

_Thursday, November 11th, 2005_

Dean got up early the next day and packed the last few items he would need for an eight hour drive. He ate the last burrito, so that Sam wouldn't. Despite Sam's effort there were manly goodbyes that involved handshakes and there were reluctant squishy soft sister-in-law hugs.

Soon after, Dean, Baby, and a 'sleeping' stone Cas were cruising down the road. Dean thought that the stone that Cas was made of was pretty, a green gray stone with silver inclusions that radiated outward like spokes on a wheel and looked like feathers.

Dean turned on the radio.

"... _On my own! Going down the only road I've ever known! like a drifter I was born to walk alone…_ "

Dean supposed that Whitesnake would do.

*****

When the Whitesnake song had ended the radio station played Foreigner, Journey, Asia, Boston, Black Sabbath, and Grand Funk Railroad, among others.

Despite the music it was quiet. There was no Sammy riding shotgun to pester, and Castiel wasn't awake yet. Dean talked to him anyway, pointing out sights all along the coast of Lake Michigan.

An hour and a half later was Dean's first stop. That put him at the Harley Davidson museum in Milwaukee with a beer in hand.

At the three hour mark, while listening to _"25 or 6 to 4_ ", Dean stopped in Chicago to take a break and eat some deep dish pizza at a place he'd heard was to die for.

The place was extremely expensive and Dean began to reconsider when he saw a poodle sitting in some old lady's purple purse. But, on the other hand, well... _pizza_.

At 12:20 he let out a groan of satisfaction and stood up, wiping away the last of the crumbs from his plaid green shirt. Suddenly, Dean felt like he was being watched. With a slight of hand, he pocketed a silver knife from the table set and went over to pay the check, surreptitiously glancing around as Dean had heard that Chicago was riddled with skinwalkers.** 

Dean started to walk back towards Baby and tensed when he realized that there were footsteps behind him. He paused. They paused. He sped up and ducked into an alleyway, settling into a crouch and waited. 

As she turned the corner, he saw a certain snobby looking old lady in a purple hat with black feathers carrying a snarling poodle.

Dean sliced her cheek with the silver steaknife, and she dropped the poodle…

"You'll regret that, dear" the old bitty said, wiping at the blood of her rapidly healing wound.

Cujo chose that moment to dash towards Dean, forcing him to dodge behind a large trash bin to avoid it. With a yelp, it slammed into the bin and left a dent in the metal. Dean took the opportunity while it was dazed to slit its throat. The poodle transformed into a naked man, just as a purse full of quarters or something slammed over Dean's head. 

"You. Killed. My. Son." She yelled as she lunged at him, their legs briefly tangling as 

Dean turned towards the sound. He regained his fighting stance and slashed through several layers of mauve silk as he cut the furious old bitch's arm. Dean really, really wished in that moment that he had a silver machete. Dean's left hand touched the top of the trash bin, and Dean had an idea.

As she made to lunge for him again, Dean picked up the lid and slammed it into her, immediately following that move with the silver steaknife to the throat.

*****

At 4:35 p.m. Dean arrived at the guest parking lot on the campus of Springfield University in Springfield, Ohio. He unbuckled, slid a map and Rock Angel into his jacket pocket, and got out of the Impala. Just in case, Dean grabbed his gun out of the trunk and then locked Baby's doors.

"Stay safe, Baby." Dean muttered affectionately and started walking towards the dean's office.

*****

Who knew there were so many deans? Faculty deans, student deans, department deans…

Dean crumpled the useless map in his hand and wished that he had gotten there earlier in the day. In a small town like this one, classes were usually over by five and he guessed that most people lived off campus because he hadn't seen another soul in the last fifteen minutes.

"Son of a bitch!"

" _Helloooo_ … are you lost?" Dean heard a voice say, which quickly revealed itself as a smirking five and a half foot tall brown eyed brown haired man in gray overalls pushing a large wheeled bucket with a mop.

"Hi. I'm Dean. Um, do you know which floor the dean of admission's office is supposed to be in?" Dean said as embarrassment turned his cheeks pink.

"Well, believe it or not, that's a more intelligent question than most of the ones I have heard students make, and I have heard a lot of dumb questions over the years. I got nothing better to do handsome" the custodian said with a wink as he propped the mop against the wall "I can show you if you'll follow me."

Then he took off down the hall at a brisk pace. 

Dean jogged to catch up to the custodian, finally noticing that he had a name tag; Loki.

"How long have you been doing this?" Dean asked, thinking back to Loki's earlier comment.

The man paused and waved his arms dramatically into the air.

"I've been mopping this floor for five years!"

Finally, the weird little guy stopped at a door and knocked, frowning when no one answered.

"Sorry, Deano, I guess he's not in." Loki said as he unearthed a lollipop from somewhere and popped it into his mouth. "Office hours are Monday to Friday 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Better luck tomorrow!"

*****

5:23 p.m. sunset

Castiel awoke to the sound of Dean drumming his fingertips and softly singing.

"... _On we sweep with threshing oar_

_Our only goal will be the western shore, Ah-ah, ah! Ah-ah, ah!"_

"Dean?" Castiel croaked confused.

Dean stilled, then turned with a smile.

"Finally! Buddy, I have been all day for you to wake up!" Dean said cheerfully.

"Where are we?" 

This wasn't the same hotel as the previous night.

"Surprise! We went on a road trip and now we're in Ohio!"

"Why?"

"So we can find your _sword_ , Cas! Don't you wanna be able to whip it--I mean, have it--when demons are near?" Dean said as his cheeks turned pink for some reason. Perhaps the thermostat needed to be adjusted, like when Sam had been an infant. Castiel started to walk across the table towards the ventilation unit by the window.

"...to the dean's office, but he wasn't in. I think maybe it's better that we don't have to deal with him. We can just sneak in tonight so we have all the time we want to look for it." Dean was saying animatedly. Castiel squinted up at him.

"You mean to break in."

"Got any better ideas, I'm all ears." Dean said with his hands out, palms up.

"You have only two ears, Dean." Castiel said, before admitting "I have no better ideas."

*****

_Friday, November 12, 2005_

12:03 a.m.

Dean picked the lock and let himself into the dean's office. He clicked on the flashlight and then took Castiel out of his pocket, setting him down on the dean's large light gray desk covered with an old computer, an old fashioned Rolodex, a couple of drawers, and a bunch of random knick knacks.

Dean looked around the room, past the diploma, the framed map on the wall, the tribal painting, the cork bulletin board covered in papers and pins--and started to rifle through the books on the bookshelf and the papers in messy cardboard boxes.

"Dean, do you think it could be down there?" Castiel said as he pointed out the locked desk drawers.

"Good thinking, Cas." Dean said and set to work.

Dean had just finished picking the lock on the bottom drawer of the desk, when he heard the clearing of a throat.

*****

"Hey kiddo... long time, no see." the champagne eyed janitor said.

Dean slowly stood up.

"Uh, this is not what it looks like."

"Wrong, it's exactly what it looks like--and I wasn't talking to _you_ Deano." the man said. Then he snapped his fingers and things got really weird.

Cas let out a muffled shout and there was a banging noise, followed by a sudden and intensely bright light coming from under the desk. 

Dean turned his head, blinking away sunspots from his vision. When he turned his head back there was--

There was a naked brunet man with deep, very blue eyes, a strong jaw with a five o'clock shadow, and sex hair kneeling in a terminator style pose and holding a blade.

"Dean?" the man asked with a voice like a fifties cigarette advertisement. Dean knew that voice.

"C-cas?" Dean said. (When asked later, he would claim that his voice only broke because he was shivering from the cold.)

"Oops!" said Loki with a snap of his fingers, and suddenly Castiel was clothed in a business suit, blue tie and tan trenchcoat.

"We'll that's it.I hope you enjoyed the peep show." Loki said, disappearing with one final snap of his fingers.

He could have grown horns and sung bawdy pirate tunes while juggling piñatas--in that moment, Dean didn't care.

Dean held out his hand to Cas.

"Let's get out of here."

*****

At 1:22 a.m. Sam received a phone call from a very freaked out Dean. He answered the phone grumpily, despite the fact that it was an hour earlier where he was. But then, Sam had had a _very_ exhausting day...

*****

_Thursday, November 11th, 2005_

Approximately 13 hours earlier

When they finally finished dealing with the apartment fire and Sam had informed the landlord that they would not be moving back in at the end of the month, Jess convinced Sam that they should go out to celebrate at her aunt Alice's favorite restaurant. It was a cozy looking place with dark brown leather chairs and matching wood tables for four that sold comfort food like a mouth watering burger with an enormous party, two slices of red onion and lettuce.

Because Dean still had Baby, the lovebirds started to briskly walk back to the Inn in 44° Fahrenheit… red cheeked from the cold and Jess erupting into giggling fits, remembering how earlier during their lunch date Sam had mimicked Dean's squirrelly stuffed cheek look.***

As they walked, they were approached by an old man holding a dog leash with a frayed end.

"Have you seen my Harvey? He took off after a cat and I thought I saw him running this way" the stranger said mournfully.

Sam was taken aback. He glanced at Jess, then walked up to the man.

"Sorry, I haven't seen a dog or a cat or anyone really. " Sam said as he put his hand out and gently patted the old man on the back.

"But maybe we coul--" Sam started to say, when suddenly the man's eyes went black and there was a knife at Sam's throat.

"Then no one will hear you scream."

*****

When Jess saw the stranger's eyes go as black as Brady's she knew she had to act fast. As she closed the distance between them she saw Sam glaring at the other man, no four planning to do something stupid.

_"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis--"_

As Sam spoke the demon snarled, and suddenly smoke was pouring out of the old man's mouth.

Jess hit the old man over the head, which didn't knock him out like in the movies, but did cause him to drop the knife. The old man turned towards Jess.

Sam winced and immediately clapped a hand over the bloody gash on his neck.

" _\--congregatio et secta diabolica. Ergo, omnis legio diabolica, adiuramus te…cessa decipere humanas creaturas, eisque æternæ perditionìs venenum propinare…Vade, satana, inventor et magister omnis fallaciæ, hostis humanæ salutis"_

"Bitch I'm going to kill you, your boy toy, and your _dear_ aunt Alice." the demon said as he stabbed in Jess's direction, which she barely avoided.

_"…Humiliare sub potenti manu Dei; contremisce et effuge, invocato a nobis sancto et terribili nomine…quem inferi tremunt--"_

"Sam, hurry up!" Jess cried as she sidestepped, avoiding the demon's thrust for the second time.

_"…Ab insidiis diaboli, libera nos, Domine. Ut Ecclesiam tuam secura tibi facias libertate servire, te rogamus, audi nos."_

With that last word, the demon was expelled, and the old man slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"We've gotta get out of here." Sam said, looking down at the man the demon had possessed.

Jess crouched down to check his pulse. He was alive.

"We have to call nine one one" Jess entreated "Sam, please." 

Sam tossed her his burner phone, already planning to buy a new one.

"When we return to the Inn you should call your aunt." Sam said as Jess began to dial.

"Oh, God" she said with a sob "he knew her name, Sa--"

"--Yes, sorry. There's this old man unconscious in the alley. It looks like someone hit him in the head. Uh… no I'll have to check for a street sign…"

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I'd forgotten that I made John more of an asshole than in cannon when I wrote the prequel 'Seraphinite'. The P.O. Box is also something I added in that story for… reasons ;-)
> 
> **So there was a backdoor pilot that was attempted, I think, in season seven or eight? It was based in Chicago in the same universe as Supernatural and would have had like five monster mobster families that secretly fought to control the city. One was vampires, and one was skinwalkers. I don't even remember what the rest were.
> 
> ***Watch the episode Tall Tales. Dean reminds me of my hamster and later in the series was rather aptly named 'squirrel' by Crowley.
> 
> It's warmer in Ohio than Wisconsin.
> 
> Poll: Do you want Jess to go visit her aunt or do you think it's too dangerous? Should she tell her aunt at least part of the truth?


	20. Bonus Track#1: Custard Pie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Gabriel eats pie and talks to a dog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: What's this? Two chapters in the same week?  
> Bonus chapter to answer a question. And yes, there really is a Zeppelin track by that name.
> 
> Warning: Mild swearing.
> 
> Also, I've increased the chapter count by 1.

As Gabriel cut himself a slice of pie, he heard the click of doggy nails on kitchen tiles. He looked over to an old shaggy dog, a Komondor he had rescued last week from a kill shelter. 

As she perambulated towards him her geriatric tail was wagging slowly; clearly, although her long white hair prevented her from seeing the pie, she had smelled the food. 

"Hey, Sorry" Gabriel said as he leaned over to feed her a piece of crust.

"You wouldn't believe the day I've had." he added as Sorry licked the last few crumbs.

Gabriel lifted his left hand up, his nose wrinkled with disgust at the doggy drool.

His right hand snapped it's fingers and his left hand was clean again.

"A couple of yahoos broke into that asshole dean's place. Normally, I wouldn't care, 'cept one of them was that Bro I cursed a few years ago, you know, when I pretended to be that scottish witch?" Gabriel said with a laugh.

"It seems from the way Cassie and that hunter were staring at each other that he took what I said literally…" 

Gabriel got out of the kitchen chair and started to pet Sorry.

"I  _ had _ to curse him, I couldn't get caught up in Mikey and Lucy's dick measuring contest again. I've spent too many years hiding from my brothers, the green flavor of pagan magic masking my grace from a distance… and anyway back then he was the same as all the other angel dicks, y'know?"

Sorry's answer was to turn over on her back for belly scritches.

"Sure I could have let the curse break on its own--Cas would have reverted to that female form--but where's the fun in that?"

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: If you do the math, you already know the ending of Sorry's Shaggy Dog Story and why I didn't use the canonic Jack Russel Terrier that appeared in season 2. :-(

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to split this into two or three parts:
> 
> Book 1: Taken For Granite  
> Chapters 1-16  
> Book 2: Rock Mixtape  
> Chapters: 17-30


End file.
